1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a shift lever apparatus of an automatic transmission mounted on an automobile, used for manually remote operation from driver's cabin, and more particularly to a shift lever apparatus for an automatic transmission provided with a shift lock for locking the shift lever and a manually operated shift lock cancellation means for manual cancellation of the lock of the shift lever.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known type of a shift lever apparatus for an automatic transmission, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 20343-1987, there is provided a shift lock which locks a shift lever at a certain shift position and cancels the locking of the shift lever by electrically operating an actuator when a brake pedal is depressed.
Some of the shift lever apparatuses having such a shift lock are also provided with a manually-operated shift lock cancellation mechanism which is capable of cancelling the locking of the shift lever manually even when power can not be supplied to the actuator, for example, at the time of the maintenance work which is conducted under a disconnected condition between a power source and the actuator.
Such a shift lock cancellation means is constituted such that the locking of the shift lever is cancelled by a motive mechanism that is operated by a manual force input from an operating portion.
This motive mechanism is mounted on a base provided with the actuator. The operating portion must be disposed in the position where it can be readily operated if the necessity arises. Therefore, the operating portion is not provided on the base covered with a housing but it is disposed on the housing exposed to the driver's cabin.
The housing and the base are independent parts, respectively, and the housing is positioned and assembled on the base into one unit in the final step of assembling.
That is to say, the operating portion and the motive mechanism are independently mounted to the housing and the base, and their end parts are connected to each other when the housing and the base are assembled into the one unit, so that the operating portion and the motive mechanism are linked to each other.
Accordingly, there are many instances where the end parts of the operating portion and the motive mechanism are not fitted to each other within the range of tolerance deviation because of the various types of deviations that unavoidably occur. There is such a problem that it is necessary to adjust the unfitting connection or it is required to provide a separate mechanism that eliminates the need for the adjustment.